Gift 29 ~ Miracle Mile / My List

Cami's affirmation statement for the day is "Today I give with enthusiasm." She and Mark have big plans to celebrate the end of her giving ritual. Before leaving the house, she donates her 29th gift to two organizations. The first is a $25 micro-loan to a woman who runs a food market in Ghana through Kiva.org. She also writes a check and mails a donation to the FINCA Village Banking project which helps women business owners in developing countries. Then they head out for a 1-mile hike at Runyon Canyon. Despite a steep hill at the beginning, Cami completes the full hike. As she predicted, her feet swell up to grapefruits as soon as she takes off her shoes. She pops them up on pillows and rests for the remainder of the day. This gives her time o reflect on the changes she's been experiencing which includes more energy, more capable of receiving assistance and love, easier to laugh and smile, more awe of people around her and their good qualities rather than "flaws", less physical and emotional pain, and more engaged in life rather than just tolerating ot. Perhaps her biggest change is she feels spirtually in touch with a higher sense of power and more seeing that everything belongs to the divine. "The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in service to others." ~ Gandhi

Cami sends out a prayer of gratitude to Mbali as her gift for the day. And she realizes something she's felt since the beginning: she's going to start all over with Day 1.

This is also my final day of taking on the 29-Gift Challenge. Despite the fact I went to bed at 3am, I am up bright and early at 8:25am (only hit the snooze button twice!). I'm anxious to get to my 29th gift AND have a to-do that feels like it is a mile long for today. I begin with a trip to Home Depot for ceiling tiles and Giant Eagle for groceries. Then it is a quick stop into Starbucks for a Grande Christmas Bold and it is here that I get my chance to give my first gift today. I call Alan to see if he would like me to get him one too (I wasn't sure if he was up yet!). Although he already made coffee at home, he is happy to get the good stuff! Then it is time to head home to unpack groceries, and as we do my Aaron raves on and on about how I know him SO well. Translation ~ I bought five of his favorite foods at the grocery store. What a happy kid! After completing many other items on my list, I head out to the Rec with Austin. It is his first day going there to work out on the machines, something I encouraged him to do with me and he immediately took me up on it. Then we go to the Mall to pick up a gift for one of his friends:) A few minutes after we get home, I head back out again, this time for Babysitting night at FIAT. This is a special gift to parents to watch their children for 2 hours while they go do shopping or other holiday activities without having to pay a babysitter. I spend most of my time helping children make holiday crafts and ornaments to take home with them. While there I am delivered the homemade cookies I bought to support another missioner's fundraiser for the trip. As I head home for the evening, I find myself strategizing as to who I can surprise with a gift of holiday cookies. I then chuckle to myself as I realize this gifting thing must be pretty engrained to still be thinking this way despite a day of giving and going, much as it has been the past 28 days! As they say, it takes about a month to create a habit, and I think mine is pretty well-engrained.

As previously shared, my intent in taking on this 29-Gift Challenge was to help prepare me for Mission Possible. I am definitely ready! Doing this allowed me to focus on what others and either their needs or ways I could be of service with the gifts that I have. In these times especially, one does not have to look far to find opportunities to give. My eyes were opened wider as to the extent of the needs that are out there, that far exceed my ability to meet them all though I truly wish that I could. In the meantime, I will continue giving in some shape or form with an eye toward keeping this as a daily focus or priority. My Gandhi quote is to "Be the change you wish to see in the world" or as it says in Nike's slogan, "Just Do It!"